The Walking Dead: Rise Again
by princesscyan
Summary: I created this story with the intention of relieving myself of my Walking Dead nightmares and shared it with the world in hopes of relieving someone else's.
1. Chapter 1

**Alabama Heat**

"I'm tired," Carl complained. Michonne, Daryl, Rick ignored Carl's complaints.

"Be quiet," Rick warned, "there's walkers everywhere."

Carl, going through his rebellious stage at the worst possible time, just huffed angrily. He looked at the woods in the distance and looked back on the cracking asphalt road ahead of them. It wasn't safe for them to be walking without cover and it'd be dark soon. The sky was becoming a beautiful shade of reddish orange. It was hard to appreciate the beauty when you know you're going to die soon.

"We can't just keep going this way," Daryl spoke up silently.

"We need to find a car. I'm sure there'll be one by the time it's dark out."

Michonne shook her head hoping Rick did not see.

"You got a problem with this? You can go ahead and leave." Rick pointed towards the ominous woods.

"You know damn well I could make it on my own. The question is, would y'all make it without me." Silence passed between them uneasily.

The horizon was becoming more beautiful and dangerous by the second. It had gone from bright orange to a dark rich red. Even Rick was beginning to get worried. "We need to stay together. As soon as we get that car, we can drive somewhere safe."

Carl muttered under his breath, "ain't nowhere safe" but Rick chose to ignore it. Somewhere out there, Rick was sure there'd be some sort of civilization. Rick thought back to his teen years and how much he wished he had some sort of normalcy for his son. It broke his heart to think this was all his son had to look forward to. The world they'd knew before couldn't have been over just yet.

"Walkers!" Daryl warned them as two shambling walkers came closer to them from the woods. They're still a long way's away but walkers never travel alone. Everyone had their weapons ready.

"Wait!" one of them called, "We're not dead." They put their hands up. Rick and Daryl put their weapons away but Carl and Michonne only lowered them. As they came closer to each other, it was apparent they were in bad condition.

"Don't come close!" Carl warned.

The sickly two kept their hands up in surrender. "We just, we just wanted some food. I'm sorry. I know we're bad but we barely made it out of there when those zombies snuck up on us. Don't worry, we got 'em. We just thought y'all could help us is all."

Carl tightened his lips, "Y'all're beyond help."He raised his gun when Rick put his hand on his arm.

Rick looked back at the two people, "What are your names?"

The woman spoke, "I'm Carrie and this is my friend James. We just wanted some food and...well, we wanted to die. We know we're not gonna live and we can't bear to shoot each other in the head. We're just looking for a quick way to go, real easy." Carrie seemed sincere.

The man, James, put down his knife and Carrie followed his lead and put it down too. "We don't want to end up like them."

"Y'all got a car by chance?" Michonne asked.

"We did, about 2 miles that way but it died on us." Carrie said while pointed in the direction they were going.

"Enough of this," Carl said. He picked his gun up and shot them both swiftly in the head. Their bodies landed with a soft thud. They fell straight backwards with their arms slightly splayed, as if they were holding hands.

Rick paced away and directly back at Carl. "Why would you do that?"

"Why you getting mad at me for? They wanted to die!"

Rick took Carl's shoulders, "You can't just shoot your gun when we're surrounded by woods and walkers. I thought you were better than this."

"I'm just trying to survive."

Michonne stepped between them, "We need to move."


	2. Chapter 2

**New America**

The car the couple had been talking about was in their sights. Carl had seen it first. The group seemed to pick up the pace. Rick was beginning to lose hope in his plan with the sky darkening. His hope had been fading a while since the apocalypse started. He was beginning to lose faith in humanity but also in the future. He was uncertain about the next day, when he would die or turn, leaving Carl alone. For Carl, believing in a better future was naivety but Carl couldn't help but wish for it to be over. He found himself praying silently, and with his eyes open of course, for the day he could sleep peacefully at night. He imagined him and his dad in a house, going to high school, getting his license...

As they approached the car, a quick inspection showed the tank was empty, but everything else was working. They filled it up and got in, happy to find there was working A/C.

"Dad?" Carl said quietly.

"Yes?"

"Can I drive?"

Rick allowed himself one smile. "Alrighty." He got out of the driver seat and sat in the backseat next to Daryl. "Don't crash us."

The sky went from purple, to dark purple and eventually became a dark blue speckled with starry dots. They felt safe. It was the first time they'd ever been quiet because they wanted to, and not because they needed to. Rick allowed himself to be taken away with sleep. He didn't dream, it was a blissfully silent slumber. Michonne sat unmoving yet relaxed with the plastic container full of gas in her lap and her hands folded neatly over the top. Daryl looked out the window with his elbow on the window. Everyone's thoughts had even quieted.

After about an hour, Carl noticed the gas getting low. "Dad?"Rick yawned awake. "I think we need to fill up again."

Rick snapped awake, focused. "Don't worry about that. Just pull over right here and let me and Michonne deal with this. Michonne, already ready, nodded.

Slowly, Carl came to a stop. Rick smiled reassuringly as if Carl was still a child. Michonne went out first with the gas in hand. She moved quickly and stealthily. Pouring it into the gas chamber. Rick watched their surroundings nervously, listening closely for any sounds of movement. His heart beat in his chest rhythmically making him drowsy all over again. He ignored it and fought to make himself focus again.

They got back in the car. This time, Rick in the driver's seat. "You did great, Carl." Carl sat in the front passenger seat. He laid back and almost immediately fell asleep when his head hit the headrest. Rick found himself smiling again.

Michonne decided to follow Carl's lead and slept for awhile. Daryl looked over to his right and saw both Carl and Michonne zonked out and soon enough found himself asleep too.


	3. Chapter 3

_(A/N) As a reminder to you, dear reader, this story was intended for me. I decided to share it with the world in hopes that someone will benefit from this story as much as I have._

 **Mississippi River**

Dawn was beginning to poke her rosy fingers from the horizon. Despite not sleeping almost the whole night, Rick felt great. He practically beamed with energy. Everyone else in the car was still fast asleep. It was still pretty dark outside, but Rick saw something bright in the distance. It looked like, a building, being lit up a little ways into the woods.

"Guys," Rick nudged Carl awake. "Y'all, wake up. I think I found something."

Michonne rubbed her eyes. "What the hell?"

"Do you think there's people there?" Carl asked. Rick didn't want to give him false hope.

"Let's check it out."

Rick parked the car far enough so they couldn't be seen but close enough to run in case of complications. They walked quietly, trying not to disturb the leaves beneath them. 300 feet in the woods, they found a walker. Daryl saw it first. It didn't notice them until Daryl had already put an arrow through it's eyeball. Daryl walked towards it an pulled it out of its eye with little difficulty.

Though Carl would never admit it, he felt as if the world being the way it is was somehow his fault. He thought if he'd have been a little better maybe things wouldn't have worked out the way they did. The walker so easily taken out by Daryl reminded him that he still couldn't make it on his own. Michonne could, Daryl could get by, and his daddy Rick would be okay. But Carl? He'd never last out there where all the walkers are. He caused more problems than he could fix like the time he got Dale killed. Carl shivered. He hated thinking about that but it'd happened and he couldn't take it away. He only tried to make it up to Dale by killing all the walkers he could kill.

They walked closer towards the building. By this time, the sun was making itself known and shining brightly even through the trees and glittering off the building's impressive windows. By no means was the building tall, but it still stood as if it was the personification of pride. It had to have been cleaned recently since it shined as if it were the second sun.

Michonne, Daryl, Carl, and Rick all had their weapons drawn. No chances were to be taken. They stepped closer to the front door when a young man, a few years older than Carl, opened the door.

"Please, come in."

No one moved an inch.

The boy who'd opened the door rolled his eyes. "Do you want to come in or not?"

"Do you mind telling me what this is?" Rick said with a definite edge to his voice.

"I most certainly do not mind telling you, but what I do mind is keeping this door open. The sick could just waltz in here at any moment."

Rick considered his options and walked inside. The boy closed the door after Michonne came in. Rick coughed, "So are you gonna tell me who the hell you are?"

"My name is Jebediah. This is the New Hope facility. We provide safety for everyone. Even you all. Come this way for a check up for our resident doctor."

Jebediah led them to an elevator and pressed the number two. None of them had seen a working elevator for years. Jebediah smiled at them, "We have solar panels on the top of this building and our off site location. This elevator can be so slow though." Everyone besides Jebediah, was in awe. By the looks of this place, they could keep hundreds of people and have working elevators.

When the ding sounded, the doors squealed open to a clean waiting room. "Please wait here." Jebediah left swiftly after pressing a button near the front desk. Carl eyed a _Highlights_ magazine laying on the tabletop. Next to the button Jebediah had pressed was a plastic panel. It had opened and a woman's head popped out. "Hello? Oh, hello. It seems we have some new patients here for a check up from Dr. Goodwin. How are y'all doing?" All sense of normal human interactions had shriveled up and died since the outbreak.

Rick managed to get a "Fine, and you?"out when a man came out holding an automatic rifle. He was a rule brute, not to be messed with kind of guy. Following him, was a scrawny man in a blindingly white doctor's coat. The man wore glasses and had a clipboard. "It seems we have 4 new guests staying with us. Hello."

It was awkward as ever when no one acknowledged what he said. "I understand. This place is probably different from...out there." Still no reply. "Anyways, can I have the first volunteer to get some tests done? How about you?" He pointed at Carl.

Rick spoke up, "We go together."

It was an awfully small room with 4 and a half grown folks in it. Dr. Goodwin did the usual exam, plus some. He took everyone's blood (with consent, of course) and said he'd use it to run 'diagnostics.'

"In a few weeks, I'll let you know what the results are. If you're interested, of course. I'll call for Jebediah to come collect you all and show you to your rooms."

The way it was set up was like an apartment-type living situation. There was a general area, kitchen, and 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. The rooms were empty aside for the 4 beds and bedding. Jebediah handed them some towels, "In case y'all want to get cleaned up." He looked at them sideways and left the apartment.

That night, they slept like the dead.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sweet Potato Pie**

Eventually, they become used to life at New Hope. They began talking to people and slowly becoming accustomed to living around the living. They had reliable electricity and enough food. They hardly ever looked at their weapons anymore and even left the apartment without them a few times. Carl had begun talking to boys his own age. Daryl stayed to himself mostly, but did join the book club and spent his Thursday afternoons there. Michonne and Rick had become closer and spent most of their time wandering the corridors talking.

Eight weeks later, Dr. Goodwin asks for the four of them to come back into his lab.

"Is something wrong?" Rick asked. He glanced at Carl who was looking down at his fingers. Carl studied his hands to prepare himself.

Dr. Goodwin looked surprised, "What? Oh, no no no no no. Everything is looking much, much better."

Rick sighed in relief.

"I wanted to talk to you about the infection. More specifically, you four's particular strain." Dr. Goodwin took an inch's worth of paper out of a file. "Now, while I gave you all the checkup, I remember you saying you're from Georgia."

"We aren't in Georgia anymore?" Daryl asked.

"The border's 10 miles that way. That's not the point. Most of the people in here are from the west side of the Mississippi, when the infection had first been introduced. We all came here to get away from it, we noticed there's a difference in the sick here."

"The walkers?"

"Yes! There seems to be two dominant strains of the virus. We've seen it in a few of our residents here and in you, Michonne, Carl, and Daryl. But Rick, you have a slightly altered strain."

"What does that mean?" Carl asked nervously. He looked at his dad looking for any sign of death.

"I means, your dad's strain is likely the newest mutated form of the virus. Which means, we can track its patterns. It's all on a sort of pattern. Rick, you probably got the virus much after everyone else did. Perhaps a month or two. Do you know what this means?"

Silence.

"I can find a cure. Me and my team have been trying to develop one for years, but I think we may have the last bit we needed. I think, we can not only prevent the virus from becoming active but also save the walkers!"

And so they did.


End file.
